Key Policy Letters Signed by the Education Secretary or Deputy SecretarySeptember 5, 2006

September 5, 2006

Dear Chief State School Officers:

To meet the goal that all students will be on grade level in reading and mathematics
by 2014, we need to pick up the pace in our efforts to ensure that all core academic
subjects are taught by highly qualified and effective teachers. To that end,
on March 21, 2006, Assistant Secretary Henry Johnson invited each State educational
agency (SEA) to submit a revised plan for ensuring that, by the end of the 2006-07
school year, all classes in the core academic subjects will be taught by a highly
qualified teacher.

In addition, on May 12, Dr. Johnson asked each State to describe in its plan
how it would complete the High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation
(HOUSSE) procedures for those teachers hired prior to the end of the 2005-06
school year, and how the SEA would limit the use of HOUSSE procedures for teachers
hired after the end of the 2005-06 school year to three situations: secondary
school teachers teaching multiple subjects in eligible rural districts who were
highly qualified in one subject at the time of hire; special education teachers
teaching multiple subjects who were highly qualified in language arts, mathematics,
or science at the time of hire; and teachers from other countries teaching here
on a temporary basis.

The Department took these actions based on two factors. First, for the most
part, we believe that teachers who are not new to the profession no longer need
HOUSSE procedures to demonstrate their subject-matter competency. The vast majority
of these teachers have completed, or soon will complete, their State's
HOUSSE process. Second, the Department's recent monitoring of every State
found that many of the HOUSSE procedures were substantially less rigorous than
the other measures authorized in the statute for determining subject-matter
competency.

As requested, all States submitted a revised plan by July 7. We were very encouraged
to see that nine States (Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New
Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, and South Dakota) prepared plans that, according
to the peer review, comprehensively addressed all of the required components
the Department had identified. In addition, many States proposed actions consistent
with the request to limit the use of HOUSSE procedures. Given that most States
are committed to limiting or eliminating the use of HOUSSE procedures, the Department
intends to pursue the further phaseout of HOUSSE procedures through the reauthorization
of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In the interim the Department will focus
on the very important requirement in the Title I statute of ensuring that "poor
and minority" children have the same access to highly qualified teachers
as all other children.

Nevertheless, as a matter of policy and good education practice, we continue
to strongly encourage States to eliminate the use of HOUSSE procedures to the
extent practicable. As noted above, too many States have HOUSSE procedures that
provide relatively weak indicators of a teacher's attainment of subject-matter
knowledge. In particular, the Department is concerned about the practice of
allowing teachers who have been assigned to teach new subjects, for which they
have had little preparation, to use non-rigorous HOUSSE procedures to quickly
demonstrate subject-matter competency. I urge you to reexamine your HOUSSE procedures
to ensure that this is not the case in your State. Our students and parents
deserve no less.

If you have further questions about these matters, please do not hesitate to
contact Assistant Secretary Henry Johnson on (202) 401-0113 or at Henry.Johnson@ed.gov.

I hope that you will be able to participate in the Webcast that the Department,
in partnership with the National Comprehensive Center on Teacher Quality, will
be holding on September 7, 2006, to assist States in further strengthening their
plans for having all core academic subjects taught by highly qualified teachers.
We look forward to our continued work together to improve the quality of the
nation's teaching force, and to ensure that all children can achieve to
their fullest potential.